mirrored reflection lit onto a surface, held in points to deny the true passage of time and decay
An attempt at a forever memory as materialized
SX-70 Rachael
Socially-engaged art
Film photographs, SX-70, medium format
w. Rachael Anderson
Pickerington, Ohio
2020-2021
Socially-engaged art
Film photographs, SX-70, medium format
w. Rachael Anderson
Pickerington, Ohio
2020-2021
During the Covid-19 summer into fall of 2020, I took photographs, experimenting with Rachael Anderson, a painter/thinker/filmmaker. During this time of extreme isolation and uncertainty, Rachael and I created a space of care and platonic relationship building at their family’s orchard using the Polaroid SX-70 Land camera. The camera was a tool that helped catalyze development in our relationship with each other and the land her parents lived on.
In the fall of 2020, Roya Amirsoleymani and I had a reflective conversation where we discussed joy and the importance of friendship, a relationship that often gets dismissed in contrast to romantic relationships. After speaking with Roya, I wrote about the photography excursions with Rachael in a newsletter I sent out by email detailing the importance of platonic love and the unplanned collaborative photography practice between Rachael and I. Here is an excerpt from the newsletter:
“Over the past few months, I've spent a lot of time with my friend Rachael at her family's farm. She's usually painting when I show up. We exchange updates on our lives, talk shit about problematic systems that serve a small group of people. We wander into the acreages of the land her family farms. We wander through fields of flowers, okra, and weeds. We crawl through forests of bamboo and pumpkin patches. We set up our cameras, usually trading off use of a tripod; we take our photographs.
Rachael introduced me to Polaroid's SX-70 Land camera. I found it surprising how beautiful the photos can be from an instant camera. I've been obsessed ever since she showed me how to take double exposures on my One Step Polaroid camera. She's pushed me back towards film photography which has made me feel fulfilled in a way that I haven't felt in a very long time.
And, it isn't just about the photographs. This space that Rachael and I have created through our friendship together in a time of quarantine - the platonic exchange of love, support, and encouragement is where the real beauty lies. I feel as if we have traveled back in time. As if we are in our youth, as children almost; wandering through the land with an intimacy between each other, our cameras, and the natural world. It’s a world we fabricate with a safeness that has been hard to find elsewhere.”
In the fall of 2020, Roya Amirsoleymani and I had a reflective conversation where we discussed joy and the importance of friendship, a relationship that often gets dismissed in contrast to romantic relationships. After speaking with Roya, I wrote about the photography excursions with Rachael in a newsletter I sent out by email detailing the importance of platonic love and the unplanned collaborative photography practice between Rachael and I. Here is an excerpt from the newsletter:
“Over the past few months, I've spent a lot of time with my friend Rachael at her family's farm. She's usually painting when I show up. We exchange updates on our lives, talk shit about problematic systems that serve a small group of people. We wander into the acreages of the land her family farms. We wander through fields of flowers, okra, and weeds. We crawl through forests of bamboo and pumpkin patches. We set up our cameras, usually trading off use of a tripod; we take our photographs.
Rachael introduced me to Polaroid's SX-70 Land camera. I found it surprising how beautiful the photos can be from an instant camera. I've been obsessed ever since she showed me how to take double exposures on my One Step Polaroid camera. She's pushed me back towards film photography which has made me feel fulfilled in a way that I haven't felt in a very long time.
And, it isn't just about the photographs. This space that Rachael and I have created through our friendship together in a time of quarantine - the platonic exchange of love, support, and encouragement is where the real beauty lies. I feel as if we have traveled back in time. As if we are in our youth, as children almost; wandering through the land with an intimacy between each other, our cameras, and the natural world. It’s a world we fabricate with a safeness that has been hard to find elsewhere.”
